(Adds strategist quotes and details throughout; updates prices) * Canadian dollar rises 0.2% against the greenback * Loonie touches its strongest since October 2018 at 1.2923 * U.S. crude oil futures settle 0.4% lower * Canadian bond yields trade mixed across a flatter curve By Fergal Smith TORONTO, Nov 30 (Reuters) - The Canadian dollar strengthened to a three-week high against its U.S. counterpart on Monday before paring some gains, with the currency benefiting from optimism this month that a COVID-19 vaccine will help lead to a stronger global economic recovery. The loonie was trading 0.2% higher at 1.2970 to the greenback, or 77.10 U.S. cents, having touched its strongest intraday level since October 2018 at 1.2923. For the month, the Canadian dollar was up 2.7%. Joe Biden"s U.S. presidential election win, hopes for further stimulus and a series of positive COVID-19 vaccine announcements have bolstered global market sentiment in November, prompting commodity-linked currencies, such as the Canadian dollar, to strengthen and the safe-haven U.S. dollar to fall. "It is not really a Canada-related story," said Alvise Marino, a foreign exchange strategist at Credit Suisse in New York. "It is primarily about the ongoing bid for risky assets, which realizes in FX in the form of USD weakness." The greenback rose on Monday but only after it hit its lowest level in 2-1/2 years earlier in the session. U.S. crude oil futures settled 0.4% lower at $45.34 a barrel, weighed by uncertainty about whether OPEC+ would agree to extend large output cuts. But crude was up sharply for the month on hopes that COVID-19 vaccines would soon be available. Canada"s main share index has climbed 10.8% since the start of November. That would be its biggest monthly advance since May 2009. Later on Monday, Canada"s federal government is due to unveil spending plans and detail the cost of its emergency support measures as a harsh second wave of COVID-19 infections forces renewed health restrictions across the country. Canadian government bond yields were mixed across a flatter curve, with the 10-year yield easing about 1 basis point to 0.680%. (Reporting by Fergal Smith; Editing by Bernadette Baum and Peter Cooney) Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.